next week's its gonna be much bumming around cos poor tang is down with chickenpox. although its really just denial cos sooner or later he will hold make up lectures, but im happy as it is now. equity assignment is all printed out and sitting on my table, dont know if its well done or otherwise but i dont want to tear my hair out anymore.

and so it is, went to watch the pursuit of happyness finally last night after my word count hit 2000. am not about to talk about the show much but here's just a minor little spoiler.

*chris gardner walks into an intern interview at high flying brokerage, wearing an old jacket, white singlet and old pants, all stained with white paint no less. while all other hopeful applicants were in smart pressed suits.

interviewer: (eyeing him up and down) what would you say, if i hired a man, who came to an interview at our firm, without even wearing a shirt?

chris gardner: (pauses) well... he must have had on some really nice pants.

kids say the funniest things! my primary one tuition kid was telling me that she doesnt want to get married cos she's scared of kissing! and when she asked me wide eyed whether i think this horrible thing calling kissing is scary, i had no choice but give her an equally wide eyed (ok fine, as wide as my tiny eyes can go at least) reply, ya of course im scared! and then gave her a comforting smile to reassure that she's not alone in her fears.

plus, she has this cute little sister who scuttles in and out and speaks baby talk. and wth she wears GAP and new urban male.

aww. anyways im glad that my voice is 95% home but im too impatient and am already eating fried stuff and rochers. the bf says i have a bottomless tummy and that is right, i am actually waiting for my cheeseburger now and i just had dinner an hour ago. looks like fast food nation was no help at all.

i think i should start feeling insecure why i only used about one n a half days to do my assignment while everyone else is working so hard on it for at least days or more than a week. its obviously not that im brilliant (i wish i was!), its more a combination of i just want to get it over and done with + even if i spend more time on it i really dont have much else to write. please just dont let me get a lousy grade :X

by the way i really need to complain, about how im choking from all those smoke that is coming from people burning stuff. i really dont want to be offensive or anything, and i know we're supposed to be all multi-religious etc, but there are really a lot of cons in doing that.

first, the smoke. come on, dont tell me there is ANYONE who enjoys breathing the smoke. it fills up your entire house, what if a family has someone elderly or a kid with respiratory problems? in addition, it pollutes the air. (if at this point you're thinking who cares about environmental pollution, you better not be one of those who complains about erratic weather.)

secondly, the ashes. i feel sorry for my maid, who has to clean the house. those ashes (ive tried to clean some myself) fly all about, and disintegrate into powder when you try to wipe them, causing more flying about. also, esp during certain festivals, the entire neighbourhood will be covered in ashes. the cleaning aunty is so old n frail, and i see her having to sweep and sweep and sweep and the ashes fly and fly and fly, and... you get the drift. furthermore, i respect people's religion (despite all this ranting), so i do try my best not to step on the ashes, but seriously, tiptoeing n hopping around in public is just unsightly.

third, its dangerous! that is why nowadays in neighbourhoods they have those common places for people to burn stuff right. cos there have been accidents where people burn stuff along their own corridors or outside their own houses with those red tin containers or whatever you call them. ive walked past those containers in a narrow corridor before, and i could feel the intense heat from all that burning. imagine when kids run about, what if they knock into those things?

i really dont know what is the rationale behind burning stuff to transport them to the netherworld. i know its a tradition, but why burn, why cannot freeze (which is much cleaner) or whatever other method. ok maybe there IS some story or explanation behind it and i dont know it. but practically speaking, there are really many cons in doing that. i dont expect people to drop their century old traditions, that's too unrealistic. but if i was a scientist or researcher or designer, i'd design some system to let people burn stuff and channel the smoke n ashes elsewhere instead of just letting them into the air.

whatever it is, im just ranting cos they're still burning at 1am and all i smell around is smoke and i know for a fact tmr morning my house will be filled with ashes. so ive closed my windows. i just hope i dont suffocate. and just a side thought, what day is it today, why are they burning???